~ Rambling and dabbling in books of all sorts.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. Pride and Prejudiceand Zombies is a very different version of Jane Austen’s classic novel with…zombies! (I know, hard to tell that from the title.) Some of Jane Austen’s writing is preserved, but there’s a whole new side to the novel. The Bennet sisters are warriors trained in China to kill zombies, and are a whole lot tougher and more independent. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is definitely not for die-hard Austen fans, but it could be funny at times. It was amusing, though I didn’t like the take on some things. And other things didn’t make sense like how could Mr. Collins not notice that his wife is stricken? Also, it says the zombie plague is only in Britain. Why not just move to Europe and leave them behind?

However, there were some interesting twists and turns, and I enjoyed Elizabeth. Much of the same gaiety and mischievousness of spirit is preserved, with a fierce streak added. The only thing that was kind of offensive to me was how the book is described on the back cover: “…Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.” What the heck? I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice, thank you very much. I’m not even a really big Jane Austen fan, and I was disconcerted. That’s not the way to sell a book; by insulting the book that it’s based on. Jane Austen would be rolling in her grave- and emerging as a zombie herself to attack Scholastic’s Marketing Department. But still, I enjoyed this one overall. Becky’s review can be read here.